An ancient relative of Tyrannosaurus rex with knife-like teeth and eyes made for hunting has been given the title “king of gore”.

The 7.3m (24ft), 2.5-tonne carnivore lived 80 million years ago, about 12 million years earlier than T. rex. Its outstanding features were a wide rear to the skull, short narrow snout and forward-looking eyes. Scientists named the creature Lythronax argestes — or “king of gore of the South West”, a reference to its fierce appearance and the location where its remains was found.

The predator, which like T. rex stood on two legs, inhabited Laramidia, a land mass on